2018 Clubhouse: San Francisco Giants

116. Brandon Belt

117. Madison Bumgarner

118. Evan Longoria

119. Andrew McCutchen

120. Buster Posey

Hey look, an orange & black team posting on Halloween. Nice how that worked out. With the new guys, this was an easy lineup to fill. You could probably swap Brandons and plug Crawford in for Belt but they're pretty much even I think. And since Belt is my favorite player, that gave him the edge.

I don't know how long this Topps/Bumgarner rift is gonna go on but any chance I have to do something Topps CAN'T, I'm gonna take it. Belt would be the other auto guy here.

Since he didn't have an auto, I thought I'd show the best Buster card of the set, his 1/1 wood parallel.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 19

148. Javier Baez

269. Corey Seager

111. Miguel Sano

167. Cole Hamels

123. Kenta Maeda

273. Jose Ramirez

150. Mookie Betts

67. Zack Greinke

153. Buster Posey

TB9. Nelson Cruz - Throwbacks

This is a pretty stacked pack as far as base cards go. Not a single “dud” included. Even the “lesser” names like Hamels and Maeda are pretty collectable.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 6

137. Carlos Rodon

94. Will Harris

182. Nelson Cruz

181. Ichiro Suzuki

114. Junior Guerra

295. Jake Arrieta

58. Maikel Franco

126. Devin Mesoraco

131. Ryan Schimpf

DT1. Buster Posey - Dream Team

Here’s a look at the non-auto version of the Dream Team design. The star is a little easier to make out and there are more clouds visible. Definitely has more of a primary color feel that matches the retro vibes.

2017 SPIRIT BOX BREAK - PACK 14

213. Buster Posey

227. Melvin Upton, Jr.

59. Chase Anderson

108. Chris Tillman

112. Joe Ross

162. James McCann

12. Nate Jones

69. Chad Bettis

54. Omar Narvaez (RC)

G211. Wade Miley

AW20. Jose Altuve/Daniel Murphy - Award Winners (Silver Slugger)

Lots of orange in this pack. Also, another new insert. This one is for the Gold Glove/Silver Slugger Award Winners. This year I decided to have the players 2-up, featuring the winners for both leagues at each respective position. The abstract AW “logo” allows the cards to be rotated 180° and still be interchangeable. I included both here so you don’t have to strain your neck to see each perspective.

2016 Spirit Deluxe

The flagship, "low-end" and retro base designs have been in the books for a while now, so it's time to finish up the Spirit quartet with Deluxe, the "high-end" set.

I tried to keep the elements to a minimum and keep the cards from getting too busy. The player names are along the bottom left, stamped in silver foil. Additionally, there's a silver line below and the Deluxe "D" in the upper right corner, all three elements stamped with a bit of an embossed effect. The look is mimicked by the team cap logo in the bottom right corner, though the embossing there is strictly a design effect and not physically embossed. You can see why in the autograph parallels below.

With the white feather coming up from below to help ensure the autographs are visible, the fake embossed look for the logo is a necessity so the players don't have any issues when actually signing.

The backs probably look pretty similar to previous years of Deluxe cards with a good sized photo up top with the rest of space devoted for stats/write-up/other info. Here we have full-size team logos as well as a single stat line encompassing the players's whole career. Also, I actually took the time to do the "write-up" instead of using lorem ipsum text like I usually do, so enjoy more of my meandering writing if you'd like.

The next design post will probably be the Clubhouse All-Stars insert I've done every year but I may do a "review" post with an exciting new format! (Mostly because I've been reeeeeally bad at keeping up with reviewing the 2016 releases from Topps and Panini thus far.)

2014 Spirit Base: 441-450

#441 - Ben Revere
Probably the best action shot of the set.

#442 - Francisco Liriano
Mean-muggin' like Gary Coleman over here.

#443 - Mark Ellis
I've tried to avoid including other players in action shots but Mark Ellis didn't have a whole lot of other options. Hopefully Amarista's not too distracting.

#444 - Everth Cabrera
Another bunt shot!

#445 - Buster Posey
I had a hard time settling on a Buster photo. Had to make sure I used one that conveys how majestic and infallible he is. (creepy)

#446 - Justin Smoak
Even after hearing his name for 4+ seasons, my mind still draws a blank when he's mentioned. Maybe this dugout shot will help.

#447 - Wil Myers
Can we get a paternity test to Tim Robbins here? Or Maybe Rhett Miller?

#448 - Michael Choice
It's hard to judge much from this season in Texas but it doesn't look like Michael Choice is gonna be big contributor for a while.

#449 - R.A. Dickey
Dickey has some non-pleasant pitchface so I decided to go with this stoic, dignified pose here. Looks good.

#450 - Danny Espinosa
Another acrobatic action shot to bookend this post.

2013 Clubhouse All-Stars

The MLB All-Star ballots went live a week or so ago so I thought it would be a good time for the 2013 installment of Clubhouse's All-Star insert. This is a 74-card set that features all the players named to the 2012 all-star rosters, whether voted in by fans, selected by managers or named as injury replacements. The design kind of follows the Clubhouse base set but with a few embellishments. The most prominent one is the shiny silver concentric star cluster in the bottom right corner. That foil is also present in the ALL-STAR title along with the player name and position/league. The red and blue motifs respective to each league is consistent with last year's version along with the annual Spirit Award Winners designs. Instead of the mowed field background from the base design, I simply kept the isolated players full-color and had the blurry background fade into their league color.

For the back side, a player portrait fills the negative space from the star shape in the upper left corner while the concentric stars fill the color underneath. The NL and AL logos are in the upper right corner with the league's all-star roster listed below with the starters and reserves designated. It's kind of a de facto half-checklist. On the left, below the player name/position/team is a brief write-up (lorem ipsum here since I was feeling too lazy to write.)

Again, I don't understand why Topps doesn't make an All-Star insert instead of relegating it to the Update set where it's basically the same base card with the ASG logo slapped on. Explain to me how at 70+ card insert with the best players (from all 30 teams) doesn't trump another nebulously-themed insert with yet more retired legends (Yankees)? Blargh.